Victoria Arbiter: Why the Chelsea Flower Show is so special to the royals

Britain’s royal homes and palaces sit amid some of the finest land the nation has to offer.

Teams of gardeners from Balmoral to Windsor oversee spectacular flower beds, pristine lawns and towering trees, some of which are centuries old.

The 42-acre garden at Buckingham Palace, which plays host to three royal Garden Parties every summer, is home to the last remaining mulberry tree from a plantation installed by King James I of England in the seventeenth century.

The gardens at Balmoral Castle in Scotland evolved under the watchful eye of Prince Albert and The Savill Garden, set in the grounds of Windsor Great Park, was created with the support of George VI in the 1930s.

Princess Charlotte enjoys the garden designed by her mother Catherine for this year's Chelsea Flower Show. (PA AAP)

Since 1862 successive members of the Royal Family have each added something personal to the 24-hectare gardens at Sandringham, the Queen’s privately owned estate in Norfolk.

In 1905 King Edward VII commissioned a small summerhouse called The Nest. Built on the shore of the main lake it was a gift to his wife, Queen Alexandra. George VI oversaw the design of the North Garden and in 1996 the property’s then Head Gardener built the Stream Walk at the request of the Queen.

Today, the British Royal Family counts several keen horticulturalists among its numbers.

In the 1950s Prince Philip added herbaceous borders and a water garden to the grounds of Balmoral where he also installed a large vegetable garden.

The Duke serves as Ranger of Windsor Great Park, a post he has held for longer than anyone else in history, and since 1952 he’s managed the estate at Sandringham, where he’s cultivated apples, gooseberries and blackcurrants for commercial sale.

Prince Harry with Prince William and wife Catherine at the 2016 show. (PA AAP)

Always eager to try something new, in 2006 he began his quest to raise black truffles, a feat virtually impossible in British soil. He planted 300 oak saplings impregnated with truffle spores at Sandringham and last year his efforts paid off. Prince Philip became the first Briton to successfully yield a sizeable crop of nature’s rarest delicacy.

Prince Charles, another famously green-fingered royal, is equally passionate about the great outdoors. He’s repeatedly spoken of his penchant for talking to plants, which has led to endless amounts of ridicule, but Charles’ horticultural knowledge is extensive.

Over the years he’s published several books about the gardens at Highgrove, his private residence in Gloucestershire, and in 2007 he co-wrote a practical guide to gardening in which he shared details of his pioneering organic approach.

The gardens at Highgrove are, in a word, magnificent. Open to members of the public from April to October, they reflect Charles’ commitment to sustainability as well as his natural artistic talents.

A treehouse, originally built for Princes William and Harry, has recently undergone a refurbishment so as to be in tip-top shape for Charles’ grandchildren.

Clearly keen to inspire the next generation, Charles spoke of his eldest grandchild, Prince George, to BBC Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time, saying, “The most important thing is I got him planting a tree or two here, so we planted it together and shovelled in the earth.

"That's the way I think, when you are very small, and then each time they come you say, 'Do you see how much the tree has grown?' or whatever, and you hope that they take an interest.”

The tree planted by two kings-in-waiting represents a special addition to Charles’ much-cherished garden.

Her Majesty admires the displays at the 2018 Chelsea Flower Show. (PA AAP)

Given the Royal Family’s propensity for all things green, it should come as no surprise that the annual Chelsea Flower Show, held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in late May, is a big draw for the Windsors.

The show, originally founded in 1913, is run by the Royal Horticultural Society, of which the Queen is patron, and it features a number of show-stopping gardens designed by leading names.

In 2002 Prince Charles co-designed a “Healing Garden” dedicated to his grandmother, the Queen Mother, who had died earlier that year. It was awarded a silver medal in the Best Show Garden category.

Prince Harry followed suit in 2013 with his “Forget-Me-Not” garden using native flowers from Lesotho, the small African nation where his charity Sentebale is based.

WATCH: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attend the 2019 Chelsea Garden Show with Queen Elizabeth. (Post continues.)

The Prince was back with another Sentebale-themed garden in 2015. The exhibit called “Hope in Vulnerability” (HIV) featured a life-sized Mamohato hut and a series of footprints made from casts taken from some of the children the charity has helped.

Harry, whose garden was visited by his grandmother, the Queen as well as Prince Philip, Charles, Camilla and other members of the family, said, “There are certain parts of this that are exactly like Africa and the rest takes you on this journey of what it could be like. This is our way of trying to bring a little bit of Lesotho to Chelsea.”

This year, the Duchess of Cambridge has pulled on her gardening gloves.

The theme for 2019 is: reconnecting with nature and the beauty of the natural world. With that in mind Her Royal Highness joined landscape architects, Andrée Davies and Adam White, in creating the “Back to Nature Garden” aimed at inspiring families to get outside.

The woodland wilderness featuring a treehouse, rope swing and den also has a number of interactive elements including stepping stones, a hollow log and tree stumps to climb on. The garden has been a family affair for the Cambridges. George, Charlotte and Louis have spent the last few months helping to gather moss, leaves and twigs to help decorate Mum’s garden.

In an interview for the BBC, the Duchess said, “I really feel that nature and being interactive outdoors has huge benefits on our physical and mental wellbeing, particularly for young children. I really hope that this woodland that we have created really inspires families, kids and communities to get outside, enjoy nature and the outdoors, and spend quality time together.”

In 2018, two of Britain’s national treasures, the Queen and naturalist Sir David Attenborough, teamed up for a landmark documentary about the Queen’s ambitious plans to plant a network of protected forests across all 53 member nations of the Commonwealth. “The Queen’s Green Planet” followed the pair as they strolled through the Buckingham Palace gardens discussing trees, nature and conservation.

The Queen, like her great-great-grandmother, Victoria, is continuing the tradition of planting family trees in the garden.

There’s an oak for her son, Prince Charles, her daughter Princess Anne, and two for her youngest sons, Princes Andrew and Edward.

With the passage of time royals will come and go, but one hopes that many years from now the trees planted in their honour will be representative of a monarchy that has stood the test of time, weathered many a storm and survived against the odds.